Lawrence Stromsness

Lawrence Stromsness, age 98, Crocker, died in the Golden Living Center at Clark early Saturday morning, May 21, 2016.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 from 4-6 PM at the Furness Funeral Home in Clark and will continue at the Church in Crocker after 9AM Wednesday.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 at 10:30 AM in the Crocker Lutheran Church at Crocker, SD with Minister Marion Grimes officiating.  The organist will be Marvine Obermeier with special music presented by the Bradley/Crocker Church Choir and Wendy Christman.  Casketbearers will be family members. Burial with military rites will follow in the Our Saviors Lutheran Cemetery East near Lily.  Following the interment, a dinner will be served in the Bradley Community Center.

He was born on a farm, northwest of Crocker on July 26, 1917 to Theodore and Laura (Lien) Stromsness.  Lawrence was baptized in the Our Saviors Lutheran Church northeast of Crocker and confirmed in the Crocker Lutheran Church where he has been a member since.

At an early age he moved with his parents and family to a farm in Woodland Township where he grew up and went to grade school.  He then attended Ash Consolidated High School.

On April 24, 1942 he was drafted into the US Army at Aberdeen and was sent to Fort Leavenworth, KS where he was assigned to the air corps and later sent to Sheppard Field Texas to attend airplane mechanic school.  After that he was sent to and airbase in Tucson, AZ and then to Reno, NV and later to Sacramento, CA.  In August of 1943 he was sent overseas to England and served his country repairing bombers.  In August of 1945 he was honorably discharged from the United States Army.  During his stint in the Army he had received various service medals including the Good Conduct Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

He returned to South Dakota and farmed south of Crocker with his brothers.  In 1951, he went to Kansas and worked for Boeing, returning a short time later to Crocker where he farmed on his own.  In the fall of 2000 he moved into Crocker.

He was a longtime member of the Crocker Lutheran Church where he had served on the Church Council.  He had served as township treasurer for a few years.  Lawrence was a member of the American Legion.

Preceding him in death were his parents and siblings, Inga, Alma, Ida, Conrad, Truman and Berdine.

Surviving him are several nieces and nephews.

Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com